Adrinette As Seen By Others
by Marinette's Lost Twin
Summary: A series of one-shots revolving around how Adrien's and Marinette's relationship with each other is viewed by the people around them.
1. From Kagami's Perspective

All along, she _had_ had suspicions.

During the short while that she had known Adrien, who had been locked away from the rest of the world probably just as much as she had been, if not more, she had been able to pick up a few details about this "_amazing designer who made me a feather-themed derby hat, which I'm sorta allergic to but it was still awesome!_"

First on the list was that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was half-Chinese. "There was this one time when her Chinese relative, who's an _awesome_ chef, by the way, came to visit France for a competition. She didn't speak Chinese very well, so she asked for my help—_err_, well, her friend Alya did, but _touché_," Adrien had told her once, rather enthusiastically, that even when he _was_ talking about another girl, she was still drawn in. "It was such a great experience, I've _never_ been more grateful for the Chinese lessons my father had arranged for me!"

Second was that Marinette was the only child of the _best_ bakers in all of Paris. "I'm _not_ exaggerating, I promise!" Adrien exclaimed one particular night, over some extravagant dinner their parents had arranged for them so the adults could talk about whatever important business they had to discuss uninterrupted, probably fashion-related but neither of them really cared. "It was the best bread I have ever tasted," he then leaned closer to her so none of the nearby cooks could hear. "I bet none of these chefs could _ever_ hope to rival the Dupain-Cheng family recipe."

The third thing she had learned was that Marinette was _unbelievably_ clumsy. "I swear, she'd trip over _nothing_, but it's still adorable, so I don't think I'd mind having to catch her every time she fell down the stairs at all," he had told her as they walked together to fencing class. It was after she had almost tripped down the stairs herself, only barely catching herself and regaining balance to save face. He said then that she reminded him of that one time his _really good friend_ Marinette stumbled down the stairs at the school entrance after tripping over some random person's bag. "You should meet her some time, I have a feeling you'd get along _real_ well."

The fourth entry on her mental list was that Marinette Dupain-Cheng, despite being incredibly shy and stumbling over simple greetings, could still be _very_ eloquent. "During her campaign for being the class representative, Chloé had tried to sabotage her," he frowned at that before continuing, "despite that, she was able to convince everyone to vote for her instead, not because they didn't want Chloé, but because they wanted her." Watching closely, she swore she had not imagined that look of pure adoration in the blond's eyes. "I knew I was going to vote for her anyway, but _seriously_, sometimes, I tend to forget just how amazing she is. I'm so glad we're friends."

Fifth was that Marinette was _extremely_ good at video games. "So I signed up for this video game competition, and I had to battle Max, who was the reigning champ at the time, and by some lucky strike, I kinda won," Adrien told the story so animatedly with wild hand gestures that she couldn't help but giggle as she listened. "And then all of a sudden, Marinette walks up to us, raises her hand, and volunteers to try out at the very last second. And guess what, she completely wiped the floor with Max! It was totally unexpected, everyone was shocked! But I guess since it's Marinette, we shouldn't have been _that_ surprised."

Sixth: Marinette had gifted Adrien a lucky charm, a favor he would return much later on. "I'm not really that good at fencing," the blond had humbly admitted to her with a shy smile after she had lost a match, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bracelet for her to see. "But I'll let you in on a secret. This is a _Marinette Lucky Charm_, and believe it or not, it _actually_ works! Though, I'm sorry to say this, but I can't lend it to you."

Seventh, even if the world never had _miraculouses_, Paris would have still had Marinette, whom Adrien had dubbed its _Everyday Ladybug_, claiming that the girl's creativity and wits rivaled even that of the masked heroine. "There was this one time I snuck out of the mansion to watch a movie and I got surrounded by rabid fans," he once told her as they watched a few of others' fencing matches. "Fortunately, I bumped into Marinette, and she just whisked me away and hid me from the paparazzis. She's so _awesome_, I can always count on her to save the day. She's like our everyday Ladybug."

Eighth, Adrien's friendship with Marinette actually had a _very_ rough start. "From what I have heard, Chloé somehow thought it was a good idea to stick a gum on Marinette's desk, so I tried to remove it before the unsuspecting girl saw it but then Marinette arrived at the worst timing _ever_," he shared this story to her with a grimace. "Then she jumped to wrong conclusions and assumed the worst of me, but I guess if I were her, I would have guessed the same thing."

Ninth, she had derived this from the same story: for some reasons, Marinette's opinion of him mattered _so much_ to him, perhaps even more so than that of his own father. "I didn't want her to _misunderstand_, I just knew I _had_ to fix it, so I tried to find a way to explain it to her and miraculously, the world seemed to cooperate, for once," he smiled fondly at the memory. "You should have seen the way my umbrella suddenly closed in on her as she held it. It was pretty funny, that was the first laugh I'd ever shared with her. I'm glad we made up, though, she's _such_ a good friend."

Tenth—this, she discovered at the ice rink: Marinette Dupain-Cheng was _not_ quite just a _really good friend_, after all. She didn't actually have any direct quotations from Adrien this time, but if those looks of pining were anything to go by, then he was most definitely _madly_ in love. It was painful to watch though, to be honest, since she did have feelings for him, too. But still, she didn't miss the way Adrien kept glancing away, keeping his eyes fixed on Marinette instead, who was at the time skating and very much having a great time with that guy Luka, and it was all written in Adrien's eyes: a hint of _jealousy_? _Forlorn_? _Longing_? _All_ of the above? She couldn't exactly tell, but she was certain that if she looked at the mirror, she would have seen the _exact_ same things reflected in her own eyes.

Eleventh, completely irrelevant but she had listed down anyway: Marinette had an unexpectedly _bad_ case of constipation. She grimaced at the thought, it must have been _really_ _awful_ and _embarrassing_ for the girl. Back then, she initially wondered if she should have taken pity on Marinette, but seeing the way Adrien had clearly been stressed out enough already on his own and could only think about Marinette's well-being all weekend instead of focusing on the wedding they both attended, she ultimately decided that she didn't want to ride the worry wagon after all.

Twelfth, which was not quite the last entry nor the actual twelfth thing she had learned about Marinette but still was the last one she would mention for the meantime since the list was just _that_ long: Marinette was the _best_ female friend she could have ever hoped to have, and this time, it wasn't just because of something Adrien said or did. Sure, Adrien had always, _always_ sung the amateur designer praises here and there. But recently, it seemed as though fate was playing a painfully sweet yet terribly cruel joke on them: out of all the people who had participated in that game, in all of Paris, she just _had_ to be paired up with Marinette.

It wasn't that she _hated_ it, because she _didn't_. Marinette was, as Adrien had told her a million times, a _really_ good friend. If there was someone she could have tried to be friends with, the most ideal choice could have _only_ been Marinette. But still, she figured she didn't actually make the best first impression on the girl, and judging from what Marinette's other friend (_was that Alya?_) had said, Marinette had never liked her very much to begin with.

What she had not seen coming, however, was that despite all her failed attempts at striking up a conversation, Marinette would still stand up for her—to her own _mother_, whom people tended to be really scared of! Then it hit her, the pieces finally fell into place. She finally understood just _why_ Adrien adored this girl _so_ much.

If she had taken that phone call herself, she probably would have just lied through her teeth about her whereabouts. Marinette, on the other hand, just blatantly told the truth instead of coming up with an arguably lame excuse (like she knew she would have) to cover up for her and tried to just persuade her mother that they weren't really doing anything wrong, which was more than she had ever done her entire life.

Alone, she would have never had the strength to talk back to her mother like that. But Marinette was _different_—Marinette was _brave_ and _confident_, Marinette would _always_ stand for what was right, and most importantly, Marinette was _everything_ she could have ever dreamt she _was_ but _wasn't_.

And as she stood there frozen, just dumbly watching Marinette in a mixure of awe and shock, she figured she should have felt a tiny bit jealous, but if anything, she just felt the weight of the world fall off her shoulders and was able to let out a breath she hadn't realized she held the entire time. _Gratitude_, she realized. And it was then that she decided that if she was just going to lose anyway, it was best that she lost to this girl, Marinette—not that conniving liar Lila Rossi, whom Adrien was adamant that she avoided at all cost.

This time, she would admit defeat and _not_ get akumatized for it.

So yes, back to the topic (_she was digressing_), she had already suspected the extent of Adrien's feelings for the designer right from the start. And _yes_, it sure felt good to have said suspicions confirmed without having to ask at all. But that's only as far as her suspicions went, there were still some questions she had left.

After all, she still couldn't understand for the life of her just _why_ the two weren't together yet.

From what very little she had observed at the ice rink, it was only a matter of time before the two finally gave in and professed their undying love for one another, so _why_ hadn't it happened yet?

Why was Adrien trying so hard to move on from Marinette anyway, wasn't Marinette _also_ interested in him? How could anyone _not_ be interested in Adrien? Was it because of _Luka_, that other guy who had gone with them that time?

Even after racking her head for possible explanations, _nothing_ made sense. It just frustrated her to no end.

Pressing her lips together into a hard thin line, she risked a glance at her present company, who also happened to be one half of the subjects of the mind-boggling puzzle she was still struggling to solve. She wanted to say something, seeing as he was obviously having a hard time, too. Unfortunately, communication just _wasn't_ her best suit. And the awkward silence that followed right after she mentioned the name Marinette to him earlier wasn't something she could fix on her own.

Luckily, she didn't have to revive their conversation anymore since he beat her to it. "Do you think Marinette hates me?"

If she had been drinking something, she imagined she would have spilled it all over the place like the anime characters she had seen on the shows Adrien had recommended to her. "Why would you think that?" she asked instead of answering his question.

She had hoped he would realize how ridiculous that notion was, but instead of cheering up like she initially thought he would, he just slumped further in utter loss that she almost felt sorry for him. Except, there really _wasn't_ anything to be sorry for. "She's avoiding me, I know it. It must have been something I said over the car ride, but even after I replayed our conversation over and over in my head, I still can't figure out where I went wrong!"

"_Car ride?_" She raised an eyebrow at that, earning a silent nod from him. "Maybe you just forgot some minor detail, or maybe it was something you said way before that."

"No, I'm pretty sure it was the car ride, since she was still laughing at something I said and then all of a sudden, she just crumpled to herself like I had hit her in the gut," he recalled with a pained expression. "I don't know what to do, I can't lose her like this."

She thought hard about it for a while before shaking her head. "No, you _won't_," she told him simply and he looked at her as if he desperately wanted to believe she was right but just knew she wasn't. So she droned on. "Listen, do you honestly think she'd just turn her back on you for no reason at all?"

He frowned deeper at that. "Well, no, of course not," he replied. "But there must have been something I had done, I just don't know it yet."

"Then _ask_ her."

He stiffened at that. Was he seriously that afraid of how Marinette would react? "I would, but I think I'll just scare her away," he finally said, at a loss once again. "I tried approaching her this morning but she just came up with an excuse to get away from me, and before I could demand answers, Mme. Bustier walked in. And then after class, as I was about to intercept her on her way out, Marinette just vanished! I don't know how, but she just managed to sneak out, even Alya didn't notice!"

She blinked at that, somehow finding it odd. "But I told you, I just met her earlier on her way out, nothing seemed out of place. She didn't even seem to be in a hurry," she argued, still unconvinced until a memory resurfaced. "Though, now that I think about it, when I told her you weren't in the locker room, she seemed, dare I say, relieved?"

She chanced another look at Adrien, who just seemed more and more deflated as their conversation went on. "I knew it. She hates me."

Frustrated, she resisted the urge to smack him in the head. "Do you actually think she's even capable of that?" The way she had raised her voice seemed to have worked its spell on him and in no time, she had earned his undivided attention. "Don't you remember how the two of you first met? She hated your guts back then, but despite that, you were still able to gain her trust and talk it out with her!"

"I..." He started and trailed off. He seemed to be considering what she had said in deep thought before lighting up a little with what she could only assume was hope. "Actually, you're right, I'll talk to her. I'm not letting her slip away just like that. I don't know whatever I did but I'll make it up to her, even if I end up losing a million umbrellas just to do that."

She chuckled at that, feeling a surge of pride within her as she watched him smile genuinely for the first time that day. Deciding that he was probably more or less fine already, she figured a little more nudge in the right direction wouldn't hurt. "Oh, I'm sure you wouldn't mind losing your bachelor status, either," she beamed at him innocently while smirking on the inside.

He, on the other hand, just stared at her blankly for what seemed to be an entire minute that she almost ran out of patience. When it finally clicked in, though, he was instantly transformed into an awkward blushing mess and she decided it was completely worth it. "No, no! Not you, too," he rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, a habit she observed he had every time he felt nervous. "She's just a really good friend."

_But if that's the case_, she almost said, _then why do you sound so disappointed?_

He opened his mouth to continue but a thought seemed to have halted him in his tracks that he eventually decided against it. Seriously, did he _not_ realize that his hesitation only proved her point? "If I don't get going now and come up with the best game plan, I might not get to call her that again," he told her instead as he got up from his seat, slung his bag on his shoulder, and headed out. Well, he _was_ about to, but then he stopped, turning back to her. "Thank you for listening to me, by the way."

"It was my pleasure," she replied and got up as well. Gathering up her things, she walked past him, only stopping right in front of the door to place her hand on the door handle. "Adrien, I know what I said before, that maybe you were aiming at the wrong target. But now, I admit I was mistaken," she paused, carefully composing her words before she continued. "It wasn't that you aimed wrong, it was just that you were too scared to even take the shot. Believe me, it's the same for her. Though I already told her about it and yet, even now, she still hesitates."

She smirked at him one last time, giving him a chance to contradict her statement, and opened up the door to leave when he still remained planted right where he was, completely rendered speechless with his jaw hanging wide open. She doubted he understood the message completely, but it wasn't quite her place to be meddling anyway, even if both Marinette and Adrien were her friends and both would undoubtedly be elated once her matchmaking schemes succeeded.

That didn't mean she _couldn't_ enjoy this whole ordeal, though, as excruciatingly painful it was to just watch them dance around each other.


	2. From Chloé's Perspective

She would have loved to think that she had caught on _much_ earlier, but honestly, she hadn't and she just _hated_ it.

Like, come on, Marinette Dupain-Cheng _seriously_ pined over _her_ Adrikins, and she hadn't noticed a thing?

All this time, all the _stuttering_ and _stolen glances_ and _flustered greetings_, how had _she_ not seen it—or better yet, how come even _her_ Adrikins hadn't had a single damned clue, either? _Surely_, he couldn't have been _that_ blind, right? Wasn't he supposed to be _friends_ with Dupain-Cheng, anyway? At such proximity, given Marinette's clumsiness, certainly, the girl would have messed up and blew eveything by now, _right_?

Except, Marinette somehow _hadn't_ yet, and Adrien just remained the oblivious cinnamon roll that he was—which was, obviously, _utterly ridiculous!_

Seriously, Dupain-Cheng just couldn't get _anything_ done, and the girl even had the audacity to call _her_ out for making Sabrina do all of her homework. "Like you're one to talk," she muttered out loud before groaning in frustration. "Ugh! This is _ridiculous_, utterly ridiculous! Why are they so lame?"

"Who are you calling lame?" She heard Sabrina ask her from where the four-eyed girl was sitting (probably somewhere beside her, she couldn't care less), but since she was too preoccupied by her own thoughts, she decided to just ignore Sabrina's existence altogether and continue her musings. She had promised herself after that movie premierre that she would investigate further, anyway—and so, she'd do just that.

She bit her lip in contempt and scanned the room for the all-too-familiar dark hair of the half-Asian girl, frowning upon failing to spot the girl at all. She raised her eyebrow at that, "where _is_ she?"

To her surprise, a disgustingly sweet voice replied. "Are you looking for Marinette?"

She looked up from her seat only for her eyes to be met by none other than Lila Rossi, the Italian vixen, who was beaming so innocently at her she would have thrown up right there and then if she didn't have an image to maintain as the mayor's only daughter. Unfortunately, she _did_, so she just rolled her eyes. "Piss off!" She snapped at the girl whose eyes had visibly widened at the hostility that even she might have been deceived herself if she hadn't known better. "It's none of your business!"

Rossi, who was an undeniably excellent actress, gasped in feigned fright but quickly recovered with a newly strengthened resolve. "But it _is_ my business," Lila disagreed, sounding much more passionate than she had expected—she was almost swept with awe, _bravo!_ "Marinette is my _friend_, and if you want to bully her again, I _won't_ just stand by!"

_Of course, you won't_, she thought, _you'd first make sure to take a picture to laugh at later on over some cheap popcorn, after all._

She balled her fists at the hem of her blouse in irritation, barely managing to control her temper lest she ripped that vixen to shreds—she might regret that later on, her parents would never let her live it down. But _still_, she damn well knew that Rossi and Dupain-Cheng would _never_ be friends. Pasta was a _liar_ (she had no proof, though), and Macaron, being the toothache-inducing treat that macarons just were, _detested_ liars more than anything. So ideally, these two people being friends of all things should have been ridiculous, why did people just readily buy that crap?

"If you were really friends with Dupain-Cheng, which I'm sure you're _not_," she added for good measure, noting the distant murmurs of the rest of their classmates who were eagerly listening in on the fight they most likely assumed was about to break out, "you would have known that she doesn't need you standing up for her, she can very well manage on her own!"

Despite her bravado, secretly, she braced herself for an equally witty reply from Lila, she could already imagine a lot of colorful words coming out of the Italian's mouth. Upon being met instead by a deafening silence though, to say that she was shocked would have been a complete understatement—were her words really that surprising? Didn't people think so highly of Dupain-Cheng before this Lila chick showed up? What in the world just happened to their class?

"Did you just..." It was Alya Césaire who broke the silence, frozen in shock, "...praise Marinette?"

Nino Lahiffe, Alya's boyfriend (well, at least, she _assumed_ he was), just nodded, also at a loss. "I guess... she sort of did?"

Months ago, she would have celebrated internally the way they had reacted (it wasn't everyday that she got to watch their gobsmacked faces), but as much as it flattered her that Marinette's fan club hadn't berated her yet so far, if anything, this somewhat positive reaction her retort had earned her did very little to aid her cause, as it only helped Lila break out of the stupor she had put that conniving liar in.

"So, if I understood correctly... Marinette doesn't think that we're..." The damned vixen even trailed off for special dramatic effect before uttering that one word that had the rest of the class on the edge of their seats, "..._friends_?"

Her jaw dropped wide open in disbelief, was Lila really saying these? "Are you seriously that desperate that you're playing the victim, now?" She yelled at the Italian with a razor-sharp glare before flipping her blonde hair and rolling her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be defending Dupain-Cheng? Or _actually_, I take that back! If anything, _we_ should be the ones defending her from _you!_ Not that I would, but—_ugh_, this is ridiculous!"

It was when Lila was about to reply to her that Marinette chose to enter the room, completely silencing everyone. Oblivious to what had just occurred right before her untimely entrance, Marinette, being the ever clumsy Marinette, just timidly walked inside clutching a bag and almost tripped over nothing (_again?_) before successfully taking the seat next to Alya with a huff of frustration and an indignant pout that would have looked adorable had it not been attached to Marinette Dupain-Cheng's ugly face.

Any other day, she would have poked fun at that, but today wasn't just any other boring day, this was _war_ and she had _no_ plans of backing down. So she just slammed a hand on her desk instead, prompting all the heads in that room to turn to her, including Marinette's—_perfect_.

"Finally, you're here, Dupain-Cheng," she greeted the girl, who just looked at her like a deer caught by the headlights, with a smirk before angrily pointing to the Italian. "Why are you just letting her run her mouth and do whatever? This isn't like you, do something! You said so yourself, _all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing!_"

"Oh, Chloé, quit your yammering!" Alya replied in Marinette's stead—since when had Césaire become Dupain-Cheng's spokesperson? Marinette, despite being a stuttering mess when Adrien's nearby, _knew_ how to speak coherently just fine _even_ without anyone's needless meddling, it was Alya who should just shut the hell up! "_Leave_ the girl alone, keep her out of your cat fights! And don't talk about Lila like that, or _anyone_!"

She was prepared to yell at Alya to get the girl to move aside but before she could, Marinette gave Alya a look even _she_ had never seen on the designer's face before that she felt a shiver down her spine, effectively shushing the blogger. Marinette then flashed her an apologetic smile—like the girl actually, _genuinely_ wanted to help her out but was unable to. And right then, all she could think was that being right about something had never felt more _wrong_.

"Not now, _Bourgeois_," the dark-haired girl whispered to her in a voice that was still audible enough for her to hear. Before she could even process what just happened, though, Marinette had already unceremoniously slumped on the desk on the front face-first and might have even attempted to sleep (she wouldn't put it past Marinette) if the collective gasps in the room hadn't disturbed the previously peaceful atmosphere.

Tracing the direction of her classmates' stares back to their apparent subject of interest, she looked away from Marinette and found her childhood friend frowning at her by the door. Naturally, Rossi had not wasted a second to skip over to where he stood, intentions clear as day. Could that girl get any more _gross_? As Pasta wrapped an arm around Adrien's, though, he jerked away and pulled back, recoiling at the touch. She smirked in satisfaction at that.

"Please refrain from doing _inappropriate_ things from now on," she had heard him say before he walked over to his seat—ooh, she couldn't be any more proud of him! Though she did wish he had just explicitly told Lila to _fuck off_, she knew Adrien wasn't quite that rude and this was actually a progressive step in the right direction already in his case, so she would just take what she could get.

She returned her attention back to Dupain-Cheng who was now busy with a sketchpad and... an upside down pencil? She squinted her eyes to examine the object closely and was susprised to find that it was, indeed, very much on the wrong orientation. Perhaps that would have been weird if it hadn't been Marinette, but since it was, she decided to just dismiss that observation with a shrug.

She diverted her eyes from the pencil and saw both Adrien and Alya worriedly eyeing the amateur designer but somehow, neither seemed to have elicited so much as the tiniest bit of reaction from the girl who uncharacteristically seemed to give zero fucks. Mortified, she could do nothing but blink dumbly at the sight.

She was only able to recover when she heard someone snort from the back, turning only to see Lila staring back at her looking really smug. Oh, what she wouldn't give to wipe that stupid smirk off that villain's face!

Before she could act on her impulses, though, Adrien had already decided to make a move and reached out to tap Marinette's shoulder. She was about to let out a sigh of relief when suddenly, Marinette looked up to meet Alya's concerned face before his finger could make contact.

She held her breath as she watched Marinette hurriedly scooting closer to Alya and completely ignoring Adrien (Adrikins? _Her_ Adrikins?), whom the girl couldn't have not noticed, given that his skin almost touched the girl's clothes.

...okay, even for Dupain-Cheng, _that_ was weird.

She turned to check on Adrien and felt something tug at her heartstrings. Disappointment was not a look she particularly enjoyed seeing on Adrien's face, but she acknowledged there was very little she could do about it but watch from afar. It was not often that Adrien let people see his perfect rich boy facade falter, but when it _did_ happen, the sadness in his eyes would be too overwhelming to behold that a sob would almost always escape her lips every time she did so much as glance.

How. Freaking. Dare. That. Macaron-face.

She resisted the urge to flip her desk and her bag and basically _everything_ else in sight. She truly wanted to tell him that Marinette was _not_ worth his efforts, because she _did_ strongly believe so. But who was she kidding, she also knew better than anyone that he would _never_ listen. Having friends was the one luxury he couldn't always afford. He had been deprived for so long, and the very few he had let in, either he lost or he was just taken for granted by. She knew his fragile heart wouldn't be able to endure another loss—not even Macaron. _Especially_ not Macaron, she corrected herself.

"Mari—" He tried once again to get the girl's attention to no avail.

"Alya! I have this new Ladybug-themed design that I've been itching to try, could you please, please model for me?"

Oh. Her. Freaking. Dear. God.

She didn't know what hurt more to watch, Adrien looking like a stray cat abandoned in the rain, or Marinette plastering on a smile that didn't quite reach the poor girl's eyes. Make no mistake, she didn't really care much about Macaron's feelings, but even _she_ didn't like seeing the way things were right now.

Especially when she knew it hurt Adrien so much to see Marinette that way, perhaps even more than he let on.

Just what the hell was going on? She never dreamt a day would come when she would even think this, but couldn't Dupain-Cheng just go back to swooning again? It _was_ really gross, and would remain so, but it was still much, _much_ better than brooding and faking smiles and breaking her beloved Adrikins' heart.

Who gave Marinette the permission to do that anyway?

_Adrien did_, her subconscious bitterly answered, _he so willingly gave himself away, and look where it got him._

She was so frustrated she was about to cry, and she probably would have if Madame Bustier hadn't already waltzed into the classroom with a greeting too cheerful to match the mood. She sat down disheartened and kept her eyes on her childhood friend who was still looking at Marinette longingly even as he took his seat and opened up his bag to prepare for class.

She knew him too well, though. The way he was, he would _never_ be able to pay attention and would probably just write some random nonsense in his notebook. He did manage to face front, though, but it might have been because it would have been too painful for his neck if he kept his head turned at that angle.

Was it just the neck that hurt, though?

She decided that whatever was going on, she had to find out. There was definitely more to this story, she was sure of it. As much as she wanted to blame Macaron for everything, the way the girl had been behaving was too strange to be real. Macaron was anything but rude. Even in the most dire of situations, that girl just would not raise a hand on _anyone_, not even a damned fly.

So, going by that fact, Marinette wouldn't just deliberately hurt Adrien for no reason, right?

_Right?_

But if _that_ was the case, what acceptable reason could Macaron-head possibly have? Did Adrien do something to her? Why would Adrien intentionally hurt Macaron?

She didn't know, but if there was one thing she did know, it was that she was going to get the answers from them at all cost.

The moment the bell rang, she turned her head and found Marinette crouching and crawling and hiding behind desks, slowly sneaking away to the back of the class, possibly to avoid confrontations from Alya and the rest of the gang by taking a little detour. Since most of their classmates were used to Marinette's eccentricity by now, no one said a thing.

Well, Lila seemed to have other ideas. But no, _not_ on her watch.

"Hey, Pepperoni Pizza!" She called, putting on the fakest smile she could manage at the moment. The second she got the Italian's attention, she pointed a finger at Adrien, who was frantically scanning the classroom, probably looking for Dupain-Cheng (the girl was currently hiding behind Nathanaël's desk). "Now's your chance."

She made a mental note to apologize to Adrien for using him as a escape goat, but this was a moment of desperation and she couldn't think of anything else that could effectively rid her of Lila. Luckily (not in Adrien's case), Pepperoni Pizza understood exactly what she meant and pounced at the blond model who surprisingly had fast enough reflexes to dodge. Another fortunate thing was that Adrien immediately fled the room to run for his life, leaving only the three of them inside.

Her, Dupain-Cheng, and the timid Tomato-head (the poor excuse of an artist, so lame).

"You can come out now," she said as she crouched and took a peek.

Marinette eyed her with suspicion but eventually slid out of the desk and stood, straightening out the creases of the clothes the girl had dirtied in an attempt to fit underneath the desk. "Thanks, why'd you do that, though?"

She frowned. "Isn't it obvious? We once combined forces against Sushi, I don't see why we can't against Lila."

Marinette chuckled. "We were wrong about Kagami, and that didn't turn out too well either, remember?"

"I don't care! Lila is dangerous! And you know she's a liar! Her lies are too good to be true!"

Again, the apologetic smile. "I know, but Adrien and Sabrina are basically the only friends you have, and Lila can't make them turn against you. I don't see the issue."

She glared. "How about you? Not that I'm worried about you, but Pasta just snatched your BFF right from under your nose!" She pointed an accusing finger at the designer. "Isn't that an issue?"

This time, Marinette frowned. "Yes, it is. But that's my problem. It isn't worth any of your concern."

She groaned in exasperation. "Can't you see? This is a win-win situation for the both of us! Just join me and let's bring Pasta down!"

"...you know, attacking her head-on won't fix anything," Marinette was speaking so patiently and calmly she was almost envious, almost. "I've learned that the hard way. We can't convince her to stop, but we can't refute her, either."

"But we can't let her succeed! She's going to get her filthy hands on Adrikins one of these days, are you just gonna let her?"

"He won't let her, he knows she's a liar," Marinette replied too quickly, as if the girl predicted how exactly this conversation would play out. "And even if he does, this doesn't have anything to do with us."

Oh, for goodness' sake! This was utterly ridiculous!

She almost exploded, but she managed to control her temper for once. That didn't stop her from balling her fists in rage though. "You fool! I'm done with your ridiculousness! Just what the hell is going on with you? You're always weird, but you're especially weird today! I don't have time for this!"

"If you don't, then I'm sorry for taking your time," Marinette bowed, raised, and turned to leave. "I best get going."

Wha—what?!

"N-no! Wait!" She called out. She was ready to run after and grab the designer by the wrists if need be. Fortunately, she didn't have to. Marinette faced her once more with a questioning look, but that was good enough for her. She took a deep breath and let out a sigh to calm her nerves. Why was she _nervous_ again?

"I thought you didn't wanna waste time?"

"I really don't! So you better listen, I'm not gonna say this again!" She paused to look at Marinette, but the face that met her eyes was so blank she didn't know what to do. "Look, whatever Adrien did to you, you know he didn't mean it, right? He would never intentionally hurt you, and you _know_ that."

It seemed that Marinette didn't miss the way she dropped the pet name. But the emotion on the girl's stoic face was gone too soon, she might have imagined it all. "Of course, why would you assume he did anything, though? You've known him longer than anyone here, why would you think it's his fault?"

"I told you, it's _not_ his fault!" She studied Marinette's face before an idea crossed her mind. "Wait a sec, don't tell me he _rejected_ you, is that why you're avoiding him?"

For a moment, the theory made sense. But then, she took one look at the girl and realized that could _not_ have been the case at all. Marinette wouldn't avoid Adrien for such a pitiful reason, that _just_ wasn't Macaron. "It seems I don't have to answer at all."

"Then just make up with him already! Whatever it is, it isn't worth breaking his heart for! You can't save him from every heartbreak, but as his friend, do him a favor by not causing one!"

This time, she was almost certain she managed to at least crack the walls a little, if the lack of focus on Marinette's eyes were to be trusted. Was that enough though? "I'll think about it."

Before Chloé could say anything else, the designer already dashed for the exit. And for a good few minutes, she just froze there, staring at the door like an idiot.

"Why are you suddenly rooting for Marinette and Adrien? Aren't you rivals or something?"

Realizing how she just spaced out, she snapped her head towards the timid artist with a pointed glare. "Look, Tomato-face, this is _war_, get it? War!" She exclaimed before grabbing her things from her desk and making a beeline for the door. She was not in the mood to converse with anyone, especially not _him_, a freaking _commoner!_

At least, _that's_ what she liked to tell herself.

Truth was, whatever the answer was to Nathanaël's question, she didn't know either.

Was she really rooting for Dupain-Cheng? Was _that_ really what she was doing? If asked, she knew her answer would most definitely be an italicized, bold-faced **_NO_**! But that was _only_ when asked, for if she were being honest, she wasn't half as sure as she should be anymore.

All she knew was that she wanted to see the sunshine that was Adrien's smile once again.

And if the only way for that to happen was to get into Macaron's good graces, as ridiculous as that was, then so be it. After all, it could have _so_ much worse, like enduring the hell that was Pepperoni Pizza or Pasta or whatever the hell that Italian trash was, she was fairly certain that any food associated to Lila's name would either be spoiled or expired anyway. Or rotten, _really_.

So yes, macarons _weren't_ really that bad.

In a perfectly good weather, she would never be caught dead eating sushi or pasta, anyway, for despite herself, she would admit that there could never be a more well-suited match for the brightest of sunshines than a good old _macaron_.


	3. From Lila's Perspective

This was really, _really_ starting to get to her nerves.

That damned bee was becoming more and more of a pest, the golden boy had finally learned how to stand up to her, and that annoying, _stupid_ baker girl was now acting up and taking the _absence makes the heart grow fonder_ saying to a whole new level.

To top it all off? It actually _worked_ and Adrien's eyes were stuck on that _obsessive_ fangirl.

Things were getting out of hand and even if she pulled a trick on Adrien's overbearing father, it still wouldn't fix her Chloé Bourgeois nor her Marinette Dupain-Cheng issue. She did have a few things up her sleeve, though, and if she played her cards right, she could end Dupain-Cheng by manipulating Alya Césaire (fortunately, she didn't have to plant that tension between the two at all but like the _generous_ person that she was, she went out of her way to patiently water it and fuel its growth). That was, however, only if she played her cards right. Everyone just adored Marinette (ugh!) and it might take more than just a simple nudge to completely turn the tides.

The miscommunication between Marinette and Adrien may have spurred Chloé's change of heart. However, this could definitely still be in her favor, she just had to pull her most Grammy-worthy act and feed their classmates' heads with enough half-lies, half-truths. It would be so much easier to ruin Dupain-Cheng than Bourgeois, though, since Césaire was mostly wrapped around her finger anyway, but then again, she had to think this through.

Back to Chloé, the blonde heiress uncharacteristically didn't seem to mind siding with Marinette if it meant her defeat, and Chloé, being the daughter of the mayor of Paris, had all forms of resources at disposal to expose her. That would be bad news, obviously, so she should either look for a weakness to exploit or get Chloé to side with her (again, ugh!).

Another problem would be Adrien, who while at first tolerated her, with the way things now were, if she did so much as lay a finger on Marinette, would probably jump to the girl's rescue despite being on the receiving end of a freezingly cold shoulder. Heck, he might even learn to say no to his father even if she somehow managed to convince the fashion mogul to set them up.

So _no_, she couldn't afford any recklessness, she had to come up with a carefully crafted and thought-out course of action.

Given that Adrien wasn't the type to ever turn against a friend no matter the circumstance, maybe her next step should be to make sure that whatever feud was going on between him and Marinette, it would be there to stay. She didn't really know whether Marinette would eventually forgive Adrien for whatever he did wrong or not if left alone, but she couldn't risk it, not like she even intended to.

This was a golden opportunity that could either make her or break her, she would not let it slip through her fingers.

But of course, she couldn't make a move on either of the two until she knew exactly what was going on. She was no fool to not consider the huge possibility that Marinette confessed and Adrien turned down the girl's advances, but until she was absolutely certain that was really what happened, she wouldn't do anything about it.

So, observe, it was.

She lost sight of Adrien a while ago. He seemed to have an aptitude for vanishing into thin air, how did he even manage that? He just scampered away one second, turned around a corner, then poof, he was just gone! When she asked Nino about it, the DJ even had the nerve to brush her concerns off with a shrug like it was the most natural thing in the world to do!

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that and waved Alya and Nino goodbye.

Standing by the double doors, she turned back inside and scanned the perimeter. She could see Rose and Juleka animatedly chatting about something she knew she couldn't care less about near the staircase, then Max trying to break a fight between Alix and Kim on the other corner, then Ivan and Mylène being chummy and gross on one of the benches—they were all boring and irrelevant, though. Them staying within the campus after class was pointless, they were of no use to her unless she needed their blind faith in something. Well, either that or she needed to have them turn their backs against someone, really.

She was on the verge of giving up when something interesting and very orange entered her field of vision.

On one of the benches besides the one used by the stupid sappy Stoneheart couple sat Sabrina Raincomprix, daughter of one of the useless Parisian cops whose job was conveniently done for them by the Miraculous duo. The same Sabrina who happens to be Chloé's pet bitch, she thought to herself with a triumphant grin, just the cherry on top.

She casually walked over to the girl in solitude and sat down on the vacant space Sabrina didn't take up. "Are you alright?"

Only then did Sabrina notice her presence, if the way the girl blinked in confusion could be trusted, anyway. She couldn't be too careful, she was a pathological liar herself. "Oh, of course. I was just waiting for Chloé."

"But why would you be waiting for Chloé?" She asked, genuinely out of curiosity. "Did she leave you?"

"What, no!" Sabrina immediately denied the suggestion before examining her with suspicion. "And this doesn't have anything to do with you."

She pouted at that, something she often did when people refused her requests—not to mention, it often worked. "But she shouldn't treat you that way. It's so unfair," she insisted stubbornly. "You've always been there for her, she should be grateful. I'd give anything to have someone by my side just like Chloé has you by hers."

She could see the way Sabrina's eyes wavered slightly, as if only now realizing the errors of Chloé's treatment. And in that short moment that Sabrina's control slip, she was given access to a pool of emotions—shame, self-loathing, contempt, anger—even she struggled to name it all. However, just as soon as the emotions appeared, they left without a trace and she could only stare at Sabrina who just sat there the way she'd seen earlier, with a carefully practiced smile.

Some part of her took pity on the girl. But the rest of her? Not so much. It was Sabrina's fault anyway. Chloé would not have been treating a supposed best friend that awfully if only Sabrina knew how to talk back. The world was harsh and cruel, so it was only right that one should know how to fend for oneself.

"Thank you for your concern, but it is completely unnecessary," Sabrina finally spoke up. "She just sent me out first. I mean, we were supposed to head out together and I was already at the hallway when I realized she wasn't with me, but she'll be here in a minute."

She almost snorted. "How are you so sure she hadn't ditched you? Has that never happened before?"

Again, confusion and realization. Eyes widening, jaw dropping—she'd seen these signs so many times on faces too many to count she couldn't be mistaking it. "I..."

"Oh, don't worry, she'll be here in no time, because that's what true friends do when you wait on them," she rushed to reassure the girl with a pat on the shoulder, internally also patting herself on the back. This couldn't have gone any smoother. "Otherwise... I don't know? Maybe she's just in a hurry and couldn't be bothered to... Umm... I mean, maybe she's just busy?"

She mentally cringed at that, telling people what they already suspected in their minds was such a hassle! But then again, at least, she got a humorless laughter out of Sabrina. That was something. "She never has time to inform me of anything," Sabrina shared bitterly. "And she's probably talking to Marinette right now."

_Boo hoo_, she barely managed to stop herself from saying out loud. _Poor you_.

With all honesty, she was so, so close to just dropping all the act and abandoning all logical reason that suggested she should just let the fool hear what the fool wanted to hear. Unfortunately, she knew it would just come back to bite her eventually, so with a little more internal turmoil, she ultimately schooled her facial expression and frowned. "Do you know what they could be talking about?"

Sabrina eyed her warily at first before replying. "I don't know, but there seems to be some beef between Adrien and Marinette. I think Chloé wants them to make up, though she won't admit it."

"I wonder what's going on with them, I don't like it when people fight," she opted for a response that wouldn't give her intentions away. After all, she had to act as if she wasn't as interested in it as she actually was, but then again, she might as well grab this chance while it was still there. "By the way, if Chloé and Marinette started hanging out, where does that put you?"

"Umm, well, I..." One look at the girl's face told her exactly what the obvious answer was, but she decided to still wait for what Sabrina had to say. "No, they're just talking. They're not hanging out."

_Yeah, whatever_, she almost said. _Tell me that again after you've convinced yourself._

She was about to spare Sabrina from the reality of the situation when Chloé's sharp glass-shattering voice interrupted her. "What are you doing?!"

"We're just talking," Sabrina immediately cleared up before slipping into a sweater, weakly smiling at her, and walking over to stand beside Chloé—whose eyes were now glaring daggers at her.

"This is utterly ridiculous," Chloé declared with an eyeroll. "I'll let you off this time, but next time will be a completely different story."

And with that, Chloé walked away with Sabrina in tow.

She raised an eyebrow at that, trying to make sense of what just happened and realizing with a shock how totally unexpected it was that the tides just up and did a whole one-eighty. "How very... _Interesting_," she finally said aloud.

Connecting the puzzle pieces was a no-brainer. Chloé being too mad to even argue could only mean one thing.

The conversation with Marinette didn't go as well as they anticipated! Yay! She was so elated she could pass out!

Excitedly, she began mentally jotting down a few notes and hypotheses from that.

**_1_**. _Marinette was just that pissed off with Adrien;_

_**2**. Therefore, whatever Adrien did, it was that bad._

_**3**. Going by assumption number 2, if she kept Alya occupied, no one would be able to talk Marinette into giving Adrien a chance._

At this rate, she might actually manage to snag herself some blond hot stuff after all.

Convinced that that was probably the most she was going to get for now, she decided to just go home, rest up a bit, and hopefully, come up with the best plan to make use of the information she gathered.

She was grabbing her bag and preparing to leave when she overheard a voice that was most definitely Kagami's. She gritted her teeth in a mixture of annoyance and distate, about to send a death glare before she left until another voice chimed in, setting off the alarms in her head. This time, it was Marinette's.

If that didn't catch her attention, she didn't know what else would have.

She turned to the direction from which she figured the two voices came, and true enough, there stood Kagami Tsurugi in a fencing uniform talking to a heavily agitated Marinette Dupain-Cheng clutching a pink purse like a lifeline. What could have gotten the half-Chinese girl so worked up?

She _had_ to know.

So she, as discreetly as she could, made her way to the nearest blindspot to the two, almost stumbling in a haste to scramble towards a decent hiding place for her which turned out to be a pillar she deemed thick enough to conceal her presence.

She still couldn't make out most of what they were saying, but she at least had a better view of the facial expressions they were making. Well, Kagami's anyway.

From what very little she could make out, Marinette asked Kagami something, to which the Japanese replied with a frown before saying what she assumed was _no_. Upon receiving a reply to, presumably, an inquiry, Marinette's tense shoulders slumped in relief and she could almost hear a sigh after that.

Kagami then proceeded to ask a question, and while she might not be the best lip-reader out there, she was convinced the question went like, "why are you so relieved?"

Marinette was quick to deny the accusation thrown at her with a fairly loud and unnatural bark of laughter. "No! Wild wood sew thay yuch a sing?"

She tilted her head in confusion, unable to make out just what Marinette had tried to say. She was almost absolutely certain there was no way she heard that right. Unless, of course, she had a relatively terrible sense of coherence she had no prior knowledge about.

She shifted her gaze, as if to check if that was indeed the case, towards Kagami, whom she found looked just as confused as she probably did right then.

Okay, so _maybe_ she did hear the words right after all.

Marinette seemed to have noticed the look on Kagami's face and realized the speech error. A facepalm later, Marinette quickly corrected the arrangement of the otherwise incoherent string of words, "why would you say such a thing? Yeah, that!"

Kagami eyed the girl with suspicion but said nothing more about the subject as Marinette waved an awkward goodbye and ran off to only God knew where.

Okay, that was very, _very_ weird, even by Marinette's standards.

First off, since when were Kagami and Marinette on talking terms? Marinette Dupain-Cheng, one of the sweetest people on the campus, was friends with Kagami Tsurugi, the renowned resident Ice Queen of Collège Françoise Dupont? Surely, that could not have been the case, right?

(If it was, would that mean that they might gang up on her someday? She sincerely hoped not, and if they would, she really hoped Chloé would not be part of their soul sisters sorority.)

Second, if they were friends and Mari was avoiding Adrien like the plague, did that mean that Mari was now rooting for Team Kagami? Mari didn't mind rooting for Kagami in the slightest, but even had the audacity to talk back to her and dare her to snatch Adrien as if the notion itself was absurd when she'd politely asked that Mari stood aside for good?

(The whole threatening part wasn't actually polite in the slightest, though for the record, Adrien's threat days ago about not hurting a dear friend of his was not polite, either.)

Just what was it about Kagami anyway? What did people see in that snob?

Not letting this get to her psyche, she pushed down all the bitterness and reluctantly continued adding entries to her mental list of Adrien-Marinette related findings/assumptions.

_**4**. Marinette was trying to move on from Adrien_.

_**5**. Somehow, Marinette thought it was a brilliant idea to shove Adrien towards Kagami in order to properly execute the above statement._

_**6**. Number 5 wasn't actually working, considering that all Adrien could ever think about recently was how to get back into the baker girl's good graces._

Oh, well. She was back to square one again. She couldn't touch Dupain-Cheng—or at least, not yet, because Adrien was still on guard and she might get exposed. She couldn't lay a hand on Kagami either, because that snob didn't have friends (except, of course, for Marinette and Adrien, whom, again, she couldn't lay her hands on) and didn't seem like the type who'd care should the snob be treated like a social outcast (the fencer was already being subjected to that anyway, what with the Ice Queen image and all).

Chloé, on the other hand, was not off-limits and neither was Chloé very well-liked by the public. Not to mention, the blonde cared very much about public image. With that in mind, she knew exactly what she had to do.

"It isn't nice to be eavesdropping."

Caught by surprise, she turned to her side and was met by Kagami's stoic face and icy gaze. Not one to waste time, Kagami droned on. "Hurt one of my friends and you're going to wish you had _never_ been born into this world."

Gritting her teeth in annoyance, she watched Kagami walk away as if nothing happened with only one thought in mind, "good thing you and Chloé Bourgeois aren't friends, then."


End file.
